Johann Ambrosius Bach [10] (Musician)

Born: February 22, 1645 - Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany
Died: February 20, 1695 - Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany

Johann Ambrosius Bach [10] was son of Christoph Bach [5] and twin brother of Johann Christoph Bach (1645-1693) [12]. When Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach updated the family genealogy in 1774 he noted that the twins were identical in looks and mannerisms to the extent that even their wives could not tell them apart. On April 8, 1668 he married Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt (b Erfurt, February 24, 1644; d Eisenach, buried May 3, 1694). He was Stadtpfeifer in Arnstadt and from 1667 violinist in the Erfurt town music. From 1671 he was a court trumpeter and director of the town music in Eisenach. His duties as Hausmann required him to perform chorales twice a day from the tower of the town hall, assist the church musicians on feast days, and provide music for civic and municipal functions. He must have been an outstanding and versatile musician: the Eisenach town chronicler noted that 'In 1672 the new Hausmann [director of town music] made music at Easter with organ, violins, voices, trumpets and kettledrums, something never before known in the history of Eisenach'. When in 1684 he was offered the important position of director of the town band in Erfurt, the Duke of Eisenach was unwilling to allow him to go and he was compelled to decline the offer.

Johann Ambrosius Bach had eight children by her, five of which survived (4 sons and 1 daughter), four of whom became musicians. By far his most famous child was the youngest, J.S. Bach. A portrait of Johann Ambrosius, painted after 1671, is extant (D-Bds).

Source: The New Grove Bach Family (Author: Christoph Wolff, MacMillan London, 1983); Sojurn Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (May 2006)

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Bibliography

F. Rollberg: 'Johann Ambrosius Bach, Stadtpfeifer zu Eisenach von 1671-1695', BJb, xxiv (1927), 133
C. Freyse: 'Das Porträt Ambrosius Bach', BJb, xlvi (1959), 149